Drive Me Away
by 2remember
Summary: The ceremony is going to start soon and it would look bad if I were late because I was spending time alone with one of the bridesmaids...


These characters are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

He sat in the room alone with his thoughts. After all these years, he was going to marry the woman he loved. In just under an hour he would no longer be a bachelor.

There was a knock at the door. _It wasn't time yet, was it?_

"Ulrich?" came a woman's voice, _her_ voice.

Ulrich Stern was nervous enough, but to have _her_ come now...

"Ulrich? Can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked again, almost pleading.

"Come in."

The door opened and a dark haired woman entered, wearing a white silk kimono. She closed the door behind her and stood there.

"She's even more nervous than you are," she told him.

"I'll just bet," he replied, "what do you want, Sissi?"

Elizabeth "Sissi" Delmas smiled. "Today, and just for today, it is Elizabeth, Ulrich," she said, "and I want a lot of things; I want you and Yumi to be happy, I want Odd and I to be happy..."

"You're procrastinating," Ulrich said, "and the ceremony is going to start soon; it would look bad if I were late because I was spending time alone with one of the bridesmaids."

Elizabeth smiled again. "Yes, especially this particular one. What I want to know, Ulrich, is why?"

"Why?"

"Why her and not me?"

"Sissi, I thought you got over this a long time ago?"

"Remember, today it's Elizabeth, and yes, I did get over it a long time ago, but I've always wondered, why? Before we came to Kadic, we enjoyed each other's company so much I thought you really liked me, as a girlfriend. Then we got to Kadic and I was chopped liver."

Ulrich was silent a moment as he debated something in his mind. Coming to a decision, he replied, "Elizabeth, do you really want to know the answer to your question? I'll tell you if you really want to know, but you may not like what you hear."

"I really want to know, Ulrich."

"Alright, the reason I dropped you when we got to Kadic was because I didn't want to hurt you."

"Hurt me, how?"

"Do you remember the day I graduated from Ravensbrook? The day I brought my mother to Yumi's house?"

"Yes, Mrs. Ishiyama called me and had me come with my father. It was all very weird. Daddy wouldn't tell me anything about what was going on, but I guess that your father didn't like your mother leaving him."

"And for a very good reason. I've never told you about my family, have I?"

"No."

"My father was an abuser. He abused my mother for most of their marriage. He systematically tore away every fiber of self worth she ever had, then spent the rest of the time treating her worse than you would treat a dog. He degraded her just for the pleasure of it."

Elizabeth's eyes got very wide at that remark. What he said next was even more surprising.

"And I was grooming you for the exact same thing."

"What?"

"You heard me, I was going to do the exact same thing to you that my dad did to my mom. You see, growing up, that's how I thought men and women were supposed to be. I never saw another example of how a husband and wife were supposed to act. So, I was setting you up to be my first slave. The way I saw it at the time, I would wait until our freshman year, maybe earlier, then I would make my move. You would fall for me, and then my fun would begin."

"Your kidding. This is some kind of joke, right?"

"No, Elizabeth, it's God's own Truth. If something hadn't happened, you and I would be together right now, and you might well be wishing you were burning in the Fires of Hell."

"Ulrich, your father may have been that way, but you? Never!"

"I did a good job acting, didn't I? I was that way, and you would have never realized it until it was too late. The only reason I'm not that way now is my father screwed up, big time. He backstabbed his best friend in the world, and sent him to jail for a crime he didn't commit."

"Lemuel Kline."

"Yeah, Uncle Lem. He was my favorite uncle, and he was everything my father wasn't. When my father betrayed him, I knew then and there he would betray anybody, my mother, me, anybody, and I swore I would never do that, never be anything like that. That caused my child's mind to question everything he ever told me."

"You don't know this, but my father was going to send me to some exclusive Swiss school. He was working a deal for a Swiss acquaintance that would insure I got in. But the deal went bad, and father had to find someone to blame, so he chose Uncle Lem. We lost everything, or close to it, and he had to send me to Kadic. Seeing you there brought back too many bad memories about what I had planned for you, so I pushed you away. I had to wait until you were safely with Odd before I could even allow myself to have friendly feelings towards you again. It was hard at first; I didn't like the look you got when I hurt you. But I kept doing it, kept driving you away, hoping you would take the hint and move on, but you didn't. And then I met Yumi and I truly did start getting annoyed at you. I'm really glad you found Odd, and I'm glad it's worked out between you two. Once you two were together, I could stop acting like a jerk to you and allow myself to like you again."

There was silence between the two, Elizabeth was processing what Ulrich had just told her. Suddenly, the door burst open and Odd stuck his head in.

"Hey, stop making time with my wife! You're gonna get your own in a couple of minutes!" He smiled and continued, "C'mon Sissi, they're waiting for you. Ulrich, it's time to face the music."

Elizabeth Delmas walked over to the groom and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you for the explanation, Ulrich."

She walked to the door then stopped.

"And thank you for loving me enough to drive me away."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Sometimes while I'm writing another story, something will pop into my head, somewhat related to the story, but not directly connected to it. This story was one of those times. It fills in a little detail in the world I've created, and describes a little of the motivation of the characters involved. I hope you enjoyed it.


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